Chart Detail

Note: Data are for compensation of production/nonsupervisory workers in the private sector and productivity of the total economy.

Source: Authors' analysis of unpublished Total Economy Productivity data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Labor Productivity and Costs program, data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis National Income and Product Accounts, and Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Group microdata

Updated May 14, 2012

Documentation and methodology

Productivity and average hourly compensation are based on unpublished Total Economy Productivity data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Labor Productivity and Costs program. Average hourly compensation includes those who are self-employed as well as wage and salary workers. See Mishel and Gee (2012) for more details. Median wages for all, men, and women are based on the data presented in Tables 4.4, 4.5, and 4.6, respectively. Wages are converted to hourly compensation by scaling by the real compensation/wage ratio from the NIPA data used in Table 4.2.